Job Description

Job Title

Environmental Health & Safety Director

Location

Romeoville & Chicago Heights, IL & Brockton, MA

Department

Safety

Reporting to

Vice President of Operations

About Great Kitchens

Based out of Romeoville, just southwest of Chicago, Great Kitchens has been supplying private label, take & bake pizza since 2005. It was recently acquired by Brynwood Partners in December 2020. We have the unique capability to innovate through recipes, toppings, crust types and baking profiles and our flexible manufacturing lines allow us to provide our customers with a premium pizza product. We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality in every aspect of the pizza process and provide solutions to both retail and foodservice customers. Our pizzas are proudly served in 9 of the top 15 food retailers in North America and 6 of the top 10 global food retailers. We serve all major channels: grocery, supercenter, limited assortment, convenience stores, warehouse clubs, QSR, and foodservice. Our flexibility sets us apart from many of our competitors and allows for quick speed to market for new products. Our pizzas have an excellent track record for quality and have been recognized by several of our customers as “Best in Class.” We also pride ourselves on safe and sustainable business practices. Both our Romeoville and Chicago Heights plants are BRC GSFS A+ rated and we have a global supply network of top-quality suppliers allowing us to leverage their R&D capabilities for our customers.” Our people are our strongest asset, and we proudly employ over 700 employees.

Our Company operates a 165,000 sq ft crust facility in Chicago Heights and a 155,000 sq ft toppings facility in Romeoville. Every role is vital to the growth of our organization.

Key Accountabilities

The Environmental Health and Safety Director is responsible for overseeing and managing the development, implementation, and maintenance of safety, health, and environmental programs for Romeoville, Chicago Heights, Brockton and future locations. The EHS Director ensures that the organization complies with all relevant local, state, and federal safety regulations and standards, while promoting a culture of safety and sustainability within the company. The position requires collaboration with cross-functional teams to mitigate risks, drive continuous improvement, and promote a safe working environment.

Responsibilities

EHS Strategy Development: Develop, implement, and manage the company’s EHS policies, procedures, and programs to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements (OSHA, EPA, etc.) and internal standards.
Regulatory Compliance: Ensure the organization complies with all applicable environmental, health, and safety regulations. Serve as the main point of contact for regulatory agencies and lead all compliance audits and inspections.
Risk Management: Identify potential hazards and assess risks within the workplace. Implement measures to minimize risks through proactive safety programs, training, and incident investigations.
Safety Training and Awareness: Design and implement safety training programs and ensure all employees understand workplace safety requirements and practices. Promote safety awareness and a culture of safety throughout the organization.
Incident Investigation: Oversee the investigation of incidents and accidents, perform root cause analysis, and implement corrective actions to prevent future occurrences.
Environmental Management: Ensure that environmental policies and procedures comply with local, state, and federal environmental regulations. Develop strategies for waste reduction, energy, conservation, and other sustainability initiatives.
Emergency Preparedness: Develop and maintain emergency response plans, ensuring employees are trained in emergency procedures and the organization is prepared for a range of potential emergency situation.
Continuous Improvement: Lead efforts to continuously improve EHS performance through regular assessments, benchmarking, and the implementation of best practices.
EHS Reporting and Metrics: Monitor and report on key EHS metrics. Provide regular updates to senior leadership on EHS performance, issues, and improvements.
Leadership Collaboration: Provide leadership and guidance to the EHS team and collaborate with other departments (Operations, HR, etc.) to integrate EHS initiatives into broader company strategies.
Effectively manage Safety for the facilities to ensure the prevention of injuries, illnesses, and property damage or loss.
Work collaboratively with all levels of management as well as team members, serves as a "safety coach" to department heads.
Provide leadership to drive a culture of safety excellence with the end goal being zero accidents.
Effectively manage regulatory requirements and compliance to ensure the prevention of citations and penalties.
Manage Workers’ Compensation claims and track injury and illness statistics to help identify safety concerns by trend analysis and provide recommendations to minimize these concerns.
Interact with third party administrator and their personnel to provide/receive updates on WC claims.
Interact with outside legal counsel, where necessary, to provide/receive updates on pending workers’ compensation claim, including those in litigation.
Manage the Safety Program established for contractors including temporary employees.
Oversee the activities of the Safety Committee with the safety manager.
Oversee the management of the Safety Training Platform to ensure all team member receive all required annual training with the safety manager. Measure the effectiveness of the training.
Oversee the Safety Training to Department Management with the safety manager.
Manage the completion and submission of yearly OSHA Logs.
Oversee the Safety Training for all team members is completed as required.
Implement written Environmental, Health and Safety programs and company safety policies aligned with Federal, State, and local requirements.
Oversee the annual/routine testing for hearing conservation is completed per OSHA regulatory requirements.
Maintain all OSHA reporting
Lead and support all accident and near miss investigations. Utilize known root cause analysis techniques; work with local leaders to implement processes to prevent reoccurrence.
Track, analyse and report safety performance result
Follow through with respective department managers and employees on all safety-related suggestions and feedback.
Conduct regular safety audits, identify and evaluate hazards in the workplace and recommend solutions to minimize or eliminate risk. To include working indirectly in the manufacturing environment with 30-50% of time dedicated to “floor time” in the facility.
Proactively identify opportunities for improvement in all areas of safety
Be present during all inspections involving outside parties; give recommended strategies for improving safety performance; manages all statistics to prioritize areas of immediate concern; and customize training efforts tailored to those areas.
Maintain all EHS records and files and always be “inspection ready.”
Review and maintain all work injury records. Develop strategies that will successfully bring injured employees back to work in a timely fashion.
Manage PSM program through collaboration with Maintenance Mgr and Refrigeration Contractors.
Maintain a compliance calendar for safety and environmental tasks to ensure timely completion.
Other duties as may be assigned or volunteered for.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

Required

Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, occupational health and safety or related field or equivalent experience.
Strong knowledge of OSHA, EPA, and other applicable environmental regulations and policies.
Minimum of 5 years comprehensive safety experience with an extensive background in manufacturing environment, preferably food industry.
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.

Preferred

OSHA 30: General Industry, Safety and Health Certification
Bilingual English/Spanish

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Walk around the facility and be able lift a least 50 Lbs.
Work standing or walking for long periods of time
Work bending, squatting & climbing

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Work in cold (refrigerated and freezer) environments.

Food Safety/Quality

Report any issues regarding food safety or quality to supervision and/or quality assurance.

Report any risks or any evidence of unsafe or out-of-specification product, equipment, packaging or raw materials to a designated manager to enable the resolution of issues requiring immediate attention.

Great Kitchens Food Company

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